ONEONTA, N.Y. – Leading by as many as 13 points in the first half and by six in the final six minutes of the game, the defending SUNYAC Tournament champion Plattsburgh State women's basketball team fell victim to a pair of ill-timed runs by Oneonta State and was unable to get a last-second shot up as the Cardinals dropped a 58-57 decision to the Red Dragons at Dewar Arena in the quarterfinals of the 2014-15 SUNYAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament on Tuesday night.
In the Cardinals' final game of their 2014-15 campaign, Allie Taylor compiled a team-high 17 points on 8-of- 13 field goal shooting, but Lyteshia Price secured game-high scoring honors with a 21-point performance to push the fourth-seeded Red Dragons into a SUNYAC semifinal showdown with number-one seed SUNY Geneseo on Friday night.
The unexpected season finale for the Cardinals, who wrap up their campaign with a 12-14 mark, saw Misha Green net 12 points and Stephanie Linder add 11 more before fouling out of the game with 5:11 remaining.
Hurting the Cardinals' chances were a 13.3-percent (2-for-15) showing from long range as well as a 13-for-22 (59.1-percent) night from the foul stripe. Plattsburgh State was unable to get the better of the Red Dragons on the boards, too, losing the rebounding battle 43-28.
Eager to avenge a home playoff loss to the Cardinals during the 2012-13 season, the Red Dragons made use of layups from Caitlin Cariseo and Caysea Cohen to take a quick 4-0 lead just 1:28 into the tilt. Spurred by Taylor and Green, though, the fifth-seeded Cardinals were thinking upset once again.
Picking up right where she left off last Saturday, Green banked home her first downtown try of the night to get the visitors on the scoreboard with 1:30 elapsed. The long ball proved to be the first salvo in a 20-8 Plattsburgh State surge.
The aforementioned tandem combined to score all but six points during the Cardinals' offensive flurry which spanned 7:57. After the Cardinals saw their scoring spree interrupted by a pair of Jillian David free throws, Brittany Marshall kicked off a 7-0 swing by the visitors with a hit of her own at the charity stripe.
Over the next four minutes, Linder, Taylor and Devona Paul followed with layups which put the Cardinals' advantage at 27-14 with 5:54 to go in the opening stanza. Almost entirely at a loss for offensive production at that point, the Red Dragons turned to Price who led her squad on a 15-3 scoring blitz to finish the half.
Price dropped in three-point hits on back-to-back possessions as part of a persona 8-0 run before Sarah Longto trimmed the Cardinals' edge to 30-29 with a layup right before half.
Oneonta State's lengthy offensive awakening didn't stop once the halftime horn sounded. Price added five more markers on a 9-2 run by the home team which spanned the first 2:25 of the final frame.
Facing a six-point deficit, the Cardinals regrouped and shored up their defense before things could get any worse. For almost nine minutes, the Cardinals held their crimson-colored rivals to just two points all while putting in 11 of their own. Green's free throw with 11:12 to go in the game put the visitors ahead 41-40 and two additional makes from that distance by senior Yazmin Lewis upped that edge to 43-40 at the midway point of the frame.
Price finally put an end to her squad's scoring drought with a layup to bring the Red Dragons within one, but layups from Paul and Marshall coupled with a long-range splashdown from Linder turned the Cardinals' advantage up a couple of notches to 50-44 with 6:20 remaining.
With Price shouldering the majority of the Red Dragons' load all game, the home team received some big-time minutes from Longto for the rest of the game – much to the chagrin of the Cardinals. Trying to corral the 6'3 Longto proved to be an almost impossible task as she led her team on a 10-2 run.
In addition to her five points during the surge, Longto's length and shot-altering ability made life miserable for the Cardinals. Three of her game-high five blocked shots came in the last 4:42 of the game with all three of them erasing what would have been sure layups by Green.
Even still, the Cardinals remained within three, 56-53, with 2:39 to go thanks to a split at the free throw line by Marshall. Samantha Lisikatos, though, connected on an off-balance jumper with 2:06 left to up the Red Dragons' edge to 58-53.
Layups from Taylor and Green pulled the Cardinals within one, 58-57, and Cohen missed the front end of a one-and-one with four seconds left, but Plattsburgh State couldn't get a shot up.
Playing in the last games of their respective careers were Marshall and Lewis. The women's basketball career of Marshall is one of the best submitted by any Plattsburgh State player as she finishes as the Cardinals' all-time leader in three-point field goals (184) and assists (498). Her 1,247 points stands as the fourth-highest career point total in the history of the program.
